The financial crisis in Detroit Public Schools reached a tipping point this week, with the district’s teachers participating in mass sickouts to protest potential loss in pay.

As state lawmakers debate proposed legislation, Michigan State University Professor David Arsen has created a video brief explaining the best course of action to resolve the school district’s debt and address the schools’ longstanding challenges. He explains in clear language why a deal is needed not only for the children of Detroit, but for residents in the entire state. He also explains key components needed to ensure a long-term, workable solution.

Arsen is an economist with the Education Policy Center at MSU who studies the impacts of state policies on local school districts.

We have reached a critical moment, he says.

“It’s important now … for citizens of goodwill throughout Michigan who understand that their own public schools are powerfully shaped by policy decisions in Lansing, who regret the divisions that have isolated Detroiters for too long, to step forward to support policies for the children of Detroit that they themselves would want for their own children.”